Advertising Threats and Hate in Montreal

"We have seen the protests, we have seen all kinds of unlawful things take place in the city over the past almost year."

"And all that you're getting from Valerie Plante is 'this is not us, this is not who we are'."

"Well, clearly, you know that messaging is not working."

Mayor Jeremy Levi, Mayor of Hampstead, Quebec

 

"[Plante's] inaction and incompetence have allowed anarchy to spread and damage the reputation and security of Montreal, Quebec and Canada."

"I'm not acting as a candidate. I'm acting as an attorney. I'm continuing to practice law."

"This is not political, this is legal, and none of my politics infer my mandates, as it would be inappropriate."

"Failing which our client will take the appropriate steps in law to safeguard the interests of his residents."

"This is a law issue, nothing more than nothing less."

Lawyer Neil Oberman, Spiegal Sohmer Inc. law firm

Source: X

"The Plante administration must understand that it is must assume leadership in the fight against these dangerous and hateful actions", said Eta Yudin, vice-president for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Quebec, criticizing Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante's lack of action in a matter that once again is being broadcast by a novel new means of expressing pro-Hamas groups' messaging in their campaign to delegitimize Israel and neutralize the concerns of the Canadian-Jewish population over threats to Jewish security in Canada.

Electronic roadwork billboards in use by the City of Montreal have been featuring anti-Israel messages in the past several days in an unexpected venue. The billboards have been configured to flash the slogans of the pro-Hamas crowd such as "Free Palestine", "Escalate Now", and "Globalize the Intifada". As an outcry has arisen from among the Jewish population, the mayor of Montreal demurred, stating that the billboards have nothing to do with the municipality, they are private property.

The mayor of Hampstead, a suburb of Montreal, has been led to threaten legal action against Mayor Plante for her lack of attention to the concerns of the Jewish community over the offending billboards. That their message fails to be of concern to the mayor of the city herself, is an offence against civil decency. Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi has been joined by lawyer Neil Oberman who was named in June as the Conservative party candidate for Mount Royal for the next election.

A letter composed by Mr. Oberman and sent to Mayor Plante addresses the issue whereby the electronic signs exhibiting the offensive illuminated message in not having been investigated and stopped by the municipality registers that the mayor has failed to serve the interests of her office, the city and its residents. For its part, the city contends the signs were vandalized, padlocks on panels broken, and original city messages overridden with unauthorized anti-Israel messages.

The signs, it was pointed out by a city spokesperson, belonged to a sub-contractor, they are not city property. "The City deplores this incident which unfortunately constitutes vandalism", he stated. Both Mr. Levi and his lawyer feel this to be an insufficient response since the messages constitute hate speech. While having received the letter and taken note of an impending lawsuit, Valerie Plante's office refrained from commenting on the letter's contents, referring enquiries to the city's communications department, itself devoid of any response.

Montreal officials say road signs were vandalized, with someone adding unauthorized anti-Israel messages to override the original city messages. Photo by Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs via The Canadian Press